Educators globally are navigating an unprecedented situation of delivering academic and nonacademic content to students remotely. Distance learning is not new, but the scale is vast and all communities are confronting how to effectively support students. In this context, it is not surprising that Colorado educators and districts may be turning toward current online education providers to either supplement or replace previous curriculum.
Online, virtual programs are inevitable and decisions regarding learning environments moving forward require nuanced consideration of the variability of outcomes, limitations of these models, and the disproportionate impact these programs have on highly-impacted communities. Indeed, given the novelty of remote learning, few rigorous studies exist to assess the efficacy of this type of learning. Based upon these stark realities, we have summarized some of the research that exists and make recommendations to offer quality, student-centered online, virtual programming for the next school year.